


Could Prove Useful

by feelsnotfeelings



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Accidentally Sad, Castiel in the Bunker, Gen, Headcanon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-11
Updated: 2015-07-11
Packaged: 2018-04-08 20:32:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4319040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/feelsnotfeelings/pseuds/feelsnotfeelings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cas has filled the bunker with things he picked up for free, and Sam and Dean are starting to worry about him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Could Prove Useful

Cas padded into the kitchen, noting that Dean was dressed again in the dead guy robe, staring at his coffee cup as he greeted him, and that Sam was ruffling the back of his hair self-consciously, hardly glancing up from his research. He understood by now that this meant they were attempting to be casual, though casually what he had no idea.

He watched from one corner of the table, unsure, as the younger Winchester sent several meaningful looks to his brother, who resolutely hid behind his raised mug.

Sam huffed and swiveled to face Cas, concern evident on his face. “We need to talk about all the stuff that’s been appearing in the bunker lately. I mean, I’m glad you feel at home here, never doubt that… We’re just kind of worried about you.”

Dean had dropped the pretense of catching the very last drop of coffee and was now squeezing the cup, tendons jumping under the skin of his hands.

Cas dropped into the nearest chair and stared at each of them in turn. He knew he had a problem. At least, he had what Sam and Dean would call a problem, but he didn’t think it was a serious issue. Besides, picking up freely offered things was the least harmful addiction any of them had ever had.

It was most likely a holdover from the time he was on his own, a survival tactic. It had started with the leftover taquitos that he would wrap carefully in paper napkins to take back to the storeroom. And then it was the day-old bread and donuts from the independent bakery across the street.

He remembered pawing through cardboard boxes of unsellable paperbacks outside a used book store, where he’d pocketed a collection of folklore that could prove useful and a Louis L’Amour he intended to slip in with Dean’s things.

Then diligently stacking up one of each pamphlet from the library display— book clubs and story hours and tax information. It was research, to help them get the lay of the land, as the Winchesters would say.

“It’s all free,” he said, and didn’t understand why the words came out too quickly, defensive. “It would be a missed opportunity if I didn’t take them.”

“Opportunity for what, though?” Sam’s confusion was genuine, plain in every line of his forehead.

Cas didn’t know how to explain it, not even to himself, but he reached for the impressions just below the surface of his mind.  
“I can’t hustle pool or arrange fraudulent credit cards… I’ve ruined interviews, derailed hunts…” He cast his gaze around the room, touching on everything that wasn’t the two Winchesters. It finally settled on the table between them. “You let me into your family. This is something I can do for you.”

Dean’s face cracked in all the wrong places, but he managed to nod as Sam reassured him, “Exactly, Cas. You’re family. We don’t need… stuff… from you. We just need you, for your own sake.”


End file.
